Award-winning 'binge' writer comes to Wanganui

Date: 24 November 2009
Award-winning ‘binge’ writer comes to Wanganui

Award winning short story writer and poet Frankie McMillan describes herself as a binge writer.

She fits it in between teaching and family responsibilities and writes flat out when she has the time, often for six hours without a break.

Frankie will run the week-long Creative Writing programme at Whanganui UCOL’s Summer School of the Arts in January.

Summer School Coordinator Katrina Langdon says she is exceptionally well equipped for the role. “Frankie is not only an award winning writer but also an experienced teacher of creative writing, at Christchurch Polytechnic and the Hagley Writers' Institute.

Frankie studied at Victoria University of Wellington, where she completed an MA in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters.

In 2005, she was the recipient of the Creative NZ Todd Writers Bursary. This year she won the NZ Poetry Society International Poetry Competition.

Her first book of stories, The Bag Lady’s Picnic and Other Stories, was published in 2001, and described by critics as a “dazzling collection” and as the arrival of a strong new voice on the New Zealand literary scene.

Further short stories were selected for the Best NZ Fiction volumes 5 and 6 and in 2009 one of her stories was selected for Essential NZ Short Stories, edited by Owen Marshall. Her poetry appears in the anthology, The Unbelievable Lightness of Eggs, a collection featuring the work of six New Zealand poets. Her first collection of poetry, Dressing for the Cannibals, was published this year.

Katrina Langdon says the Summer School has been fortunate to attract a writer with such a consistently impressive track record. “Not surprisingly, there has been keen interest in her Summer School programme, with only a few places left,”

Katrina says Frankie’s programme will offer individual help with creative writing and also the opportunity to share work with a group, “which is particularly important to writers.”

Whanganui UCOL Summer School of the Arts runs from 10-16 January 2010.
Brochures are available online at www.ucol.ac.nz or contact Katrina Langdon K.Langdon@ucol.ac.nz, Ph 06 965 3801 ex 62000.

ENDS

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